Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

We’ve recruited a number of Phoenix FM presenters – including myself – to take part in the #3030Essex challenge!

The idea is a very simple one – the challenge encourages people to do 30 minutes of exercise in each of the 30 days of June. There’s no specific rules about this – it could be something strenuous or something not normally associated with exercise, such as gardening, housework or even walking – as long as people get moving.

The challenge is being spearheaded by Active Essex. The group’s director, Jason Fergus, came down to the studio to explain how it all works.

Jason and Phoenix go back a long way – he was a guest on our very first “trial” broadcast back in December 1996 when he was Sports Development Officer at Brentwood Council. He enjoyed his visit so much that we recruited him to present a weekly show for the three remaining weeks of the broadcast trial!

You can hear Jason talk about #3030Essex on our website at phoenixfm.com and you can find out more about the challenge at bit.ly/3030sign_up too.

* Lots more guests coming up in the next seven days on 98FM. Andrea Sandell will be talking about locally-produced film Cassandra and and solicitor Brian Hughes from Shenfield’s Rainer Hughes will be talking about consumer rights.

* There will also be live music in the studio from The Silver Bayonets, Drew Tobias and Stormy Space Weather.

Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

We’ve added an internationally-renowned singer, model and broadcaster to our team – all in a day’s work for your local community radio station!

Maria Rubia has now settled down in Brentwood but has lived in many other countries during her life – she is fluent in five languages.

She originally hoped to go into theatre and trained in Swansea alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones. However she got her big break in music when she sang down the phone to a record company executive!

Maria is best known for her song Everytime You Need Me with German dance group Fragma, which reached no 3 in the UK in 2001 and earned her an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

She has performed all around the world with A-list stars such as Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner and Robbie Williams.

Her singing career also led her to a modelling career and she has appeared in FHM, Company and OK Magazine, and has also presented and produced on top radio and TV stations including Radio 1, Kiss FM, Capital, Channel 4 and Nickelodeon.

Maria’s musical career isn’t over though – she is still signed to EMI and will be releasing a new album next January.

Maria told me that she became an artist because of her love of music and radio became a natural progression. People from all over the world have been tuning in to her first two shows for Phoenix FM and this gives a new connection that a live artist would not experience.

You can hear Maria every Saturday at 8pm on 98FM and online, and her previous shows can also be heard at phoenixfm.com.

* Lots more guests coming in over the next seven days. Laura Coyle will be talking about Saint Francis Hospice’s latest fundraising and events and Keith Ball, son of jazz legend Kenny Ball, will be chatting about his musical career.

* There will also be live music in the studio from Anver Anderson, Sam Callahan and Eat My Dust.

Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

It was much harder to spot footballers by accident when I was younger than it is today. Now you can just go on Google or Twitter and get a lot of clues about where you might see them within 60 seconds.

30 years ago you might get lucky and see them driving a car with their name on the side of it. This wasn’t showing off on their part – it was part of a sponsorship deal that they might have arranged, a nice perk in an era when players did not get the massive wage packets they get today.

So when I was 12 years old and a friend and I walked past a house in Gidea Park with Alvin Martin’s car on the driveway, I thought the natural thing to do was to knock on the door and ask if he lived there. We were both a bit shocked when he answered the door!

Alvin was in the middle of an illustrious playing career, with 598 appearances for the Hammers and 17 more for England, along with a spell for Leyton Orient.

He was part of the FA Cup winning team of 1980 and a member of West Ham’s “best ever” team which finished third in the league in 1985/86.

He also achieved the extremely unusual feat of scoring a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers in the same match. West Ham hammered Newcastle 8-1 in a league match in 1986 and Newcastle had to substitute their keeper twice due to injuries.

We were delighted to welcome such a great player into the studio as part of our reguar West Ham Way podcast. Alvin spoke to hosts Dave Walker and Exwhu Employee about his varied career and told some great stories about his time at Upton Park. And I got the chance to apologise for interrupting his Sunday afternoon back in the 80s!

The interview can be downloaded as a 90 minute podcast from our website and is also available free on iTunes by searching for The West Ham Way.

Alvin’s sons are also both professional footballers; David plays for Millwall and Joe is at Stevenage. Joe has joined forces with fellow pro Harry Beautyman to form the Beautyman Martin Academy who run football courses for young players of all abilities. The courses take place in Havering and more details can be found at beautymanmartinacademy.co.uk.

* Lots more guests lined up in the next seven days on air. Former Drifters singer Roy G Hemmings will be chatting to Nigel Fitzmaurice on his Sunday evening soul show Stepping Out.

* We will also be welcoming Andy Peynado from Crystal Communication who will be talking about the Brentwood Business Awards, and there will be live music in the studio from baVard and Sam Callahan.